A set dining table and chairs outdoors under a tree - 1
    1. Don’t Damage Roots
    1. Don’t Use Weed Barriers
    1. Don’t Pile Up Soil
    1. Don’t Build Too Close
    1. Don’t Mow Over Roots
    1. Don’t Mulch Up to the Trunk
    1. Don’t Go It Alone

Teo Spengler is a master gardener and a docent at the San Francisco Botanical Garden, where she hosts public tours. She has studied horticulture and written about nature, trees, plants, and gardening for more than two decades, following a career as an attorney and legal writer. Her extended family includes some 30 houseplants and hundreds of outdoor plants, including 250 trees, which are her main passion. Spengler currently splits her life between San Francisco and the French Basque Country, though she was raised in Alaska, giving her experience of gardening in a range of climates.